Thomas Nilsen

F-35s intercept Russian maritime patrol aircraft that came near carrier group

A group of British and Norwegian F-35s were scrambled to escort the Russian military plane that flew in vicinity of HMS Queen Elizabeth off the coast of northern Norway this week.
October 06, 2023

Climate change brings cloudberry to Svalbard

After an exceptionally warm summer, ripe cloudberries are for the first time documented at 78° North. 
October 03, 2023

USCG Healy docks in Tromsø after joint voyage with Norwegian Coast Guard northeast of Svalbard

The US Coast Guard vessel sailed in formation with Norway’s KV Svalbard from the ice-covered waters near Russia’s Franz Josef Land en route to conduct joint exercises in the Barents Sea.
October 01, 2023

Last European entry point bans Russian cars

Norway is the last European country to shut the gate for Russian vehicles with less than 10 seats.
September 29, 2023

Nuclear waste ship makes unprecedented port call at Novaya Zemlya

"I am deeply worried if Russia has started to move nuclear waste from the Kola Peninsula to the Arctic archipelago," says Frederic Hauge with the Bellona foundation.
September 29, 2023

Finland deploys round-the-clock control to stop Russian cars transiting via Norway

Helsinki can’t tell exactly how much it costs, but significant resources are sent north to hinder Russian cars from entering any of the six cross-border roads.
September 28, 2023

"Andrei Medvedev had no intention to cross the border to Russia"

The lawyer of the former Wagner warrior says the man was not planning a return to Russia. "He only wanted to visit the Norwegian-Russian border areas in connection with a documentary project."
September 23, 2023

Wagner defector detained by Norwegian police in attempted illegal border crossing back to Russia

I want to go back to Russia, Andrei Medvedev told the Barents Observer in Kirkenes earlier on Friday.
September 22, 2023

HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier group sails north for NATO training

The British aircraft carrier will train warfare with Nordic countries, Americans and other allies off the coast of northern Norway.
September 21, 2023

Russia kicks off trans-Arctic navy exercise

15 warships, submarines, support vessels, aircraft and coastal units are involved as the Northern Fleet starts an exercise that stretches all along Russia’s Arctic, from the Barents Sea in the West to the East Siberian Sea.
September 19, 2023

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Thomas Nilsen is editor of the Independent Barents Observer with its news desk located in Kirkenes, northern Norway. He has a long experience in media cooperation across the borders in the high north of Europe, both as radio- and newspaper reporter all the way back to the days before the breakup of the Soviet Union. 

Nilsen has been editor of Barents Observer since 2009.

He was Deputy Head of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat from 2004-2009. Until 2003, he worked 12 years for the Bellona Foundation’s Russian study group, focusing on nuclear safety issues and general environmental challenges in northern areas and the Arctic. 

Thomas has been traveling extensively across northern Scandinavia and Arctic Russia since the late 80’s working for different media and organizations. He is also a guide at sea and in remote locations in the Russian north for various groups and regularly lectures on security issues, environmental and socio-economic development.

Thomas Nilsen studied at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Mobile: +47-90573143

thomas@thebarentsobserver.com
@nilsen.thomas